10 July 2004	Saturday	21 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 9: Amjad Hafeez, the Pakistani national released last week following his abduction by Iraqi insurgents, reached home on Friday. Upon his arrival, he said he had some exclusive information that he would only share with President Pervez Musharraf.

"My captors told me something which I will share only with President Musharraf. If I cannot, it will die with me," Hafeez told dpa soon after arriving in Islamabad from Kuwait.

Employed with US firm Kellogg, Brown and Root, Hafeez said he had already briefed US officials on his ordeal in Iraq but would like to see President Musharraf to inform him of some "serious and secret information."

Militants had abducted Hafeez late last month and threatened to behead him if US-led occupation forces did not release Iraqi prisoners within 72 hours. Following defiant messages from Islamabad not to bow to the militants' demands, and appeals for Hafeez's life, he was freed on July 2.

"They suspected me to be an American spy, and that's why they also tortured me during my captivity. But when they knew I was a Muslim they allowed me to offer my last prayer," Hafeez said.

After spending several years in the Gulf, Hafeez now faces an uncertain future after his former employers not only sacked him but also refused to compensate him for the ransom he claims he had to pay to secure his release.

"I'm broke, I have lost all my four years' hard earnings... and my firm, because of which I faced such suffering, bluntly said they are not responsible for this," said the visibly disturbed Hafeez, flanked by his jubilant mother and other family members.

(However, according to AFP, Hafeez said his company had not fired him and he had come home on a six-month leave but may go back earlier to Kuwait). A resident of Rawalakot district, he is the family's sole breadwinner.

His abduction had sparked a countrywide commotion resulting in a string of appeals - including one from President Musharraf - to his abductors, urging them to release him on humanitarian grounds.

Besides thanking the government and the people of Pakistan, he also appealed to the Iraqi captors not to indulge in such inhuman activities in the future. "Such actions bring a bad name to the religion of Islam," he added.

"They kidnapped me thinking I was a CIA agent and beat me for three days," he said. He had been captured in Balad, 75km north of Baghdad, and footage of him surrounded by masked gunmen was aired on Arabic television on June 27.

Hafeez said that his captors knocked him unconscious, blindfolded him and then put him in a dark underground hole. "When I regained consciousness they took me out, beat me and then again locked me in a dreadful room which was terribly hot and dark," Hafeez recalled.

"But later, when they showed me on TV, they came to know that I am Pakistani and a Muslim, they asked me to say prayer." Hafeez said there was a "marked improvement" in the attitude of his captors after that.

He thanked Pakistani private television channels who repeatedly showed a passionate appeal by his mother for his release and efforts by Pakistan government for his release.

There were emotional scenes at the airport when Hafeez's family members received him with tears in their eyes. "I cannot say a word to explain how happy I am to see my son," Hafeez's mother Saeeda Jan told reporters.

"I am not afraid if my son goes back to his job, as death and life are in the hands of Allah," she said. Hafeez met the president of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir Sardar Muhammad Anwar Khan in Islamabad to thank him. "Allah has given him (Hafeez) a new life and we feel encouraged," Khan said. -Agencies